Title

Authors

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publisher

AFSAAP

RAS ID

26287

Comments

Originally published as: Robinson, D.A. (2016). A Gramscian-Marxist framework for the study of African history: a background paper. In Proceedings of the 39th African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) Annual Conference (pp. 60-71). Original article available here

Abstract

This paper will lay out the structure of a Gramscian-Marxist framework for the analysis of modern African history. This framework is built around core Marxist understandings of capitalist processes and class relations, with emphasis on the specifically Gramscian developments around the nature of the state, and ideas of hegemony, common sense, and the role of organic intellectuals. This also incorporates developing ideas in the area of Uneven and Combined Development, and insights from World Systems Theory, on how relations between core and peripheral states also impact the underlying class dynamics. This framework creates a narrative of shifting power relations and ideological paradigms over the last century, which gives the necessary context for understanding recent events in African politics. Thus a broad narrative of global history over this period will be presented, with specific reference to the African situation. This paper is intended as a broad background paper to Benjamin Hale’s paper, ‘ANC and Capital: Aspirations to Hegemony’. The paper is published as part of the 39th Annual African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) Conference Proceedings 2017.